Traveling back in time with Outlander

Note: Today’s post includes spoilers – read at your own risk.

Outlander is a TV show that airs on Starz and is based on a series of books with the same name by Diana Gabaldon. A friend recommended the TV show to me. Now, I haven’t read the books nor do I plan on it. Usually, I’m not a fan of historical fiction, but I like this show. I think that I enjoy period pieces on screen instead of in literature.

The main character is Claire Beauchamp and she’s a nurse during World War II in 1945. The war ends and Claire is reunited with her husband.

While out exploring plants, Claire stumbles upon a stone and after touching it gets transported back in time to Scotland in 1743. When she arrives, Captain Randall of the Red Coat army, who eerily looks just like her husband, Frank, tries to sexually assault her. Claire is then rescued by Dougal Mackenzie of the Mackenzie clan of Scotland and taken back to their castle. Everyone there is suspicious of Claire and thinks that she’s a British spy. Some of the people get over it, but not all. Claire adjusts to life at the castle, but there are some bumps along the way as she tries to make it back home.

Claire Beauchamp herself is a strong, female character. She stands up against injustice. An example of this is in episode 5 when Dougal wanted to keep a goat that belonged to a family who had a baby that needed milk. Claire also doesn’t take crap from anyone. I would consider her to be a feminist because she always has lines that echo this sentiment. A lot of the men on the show are sexist and misogynistic and Claire points that out every chance that she gets and I love it.

Claire is also a sexually liberated woman and isn’t afraid of her sexuality. An example of this occurred in episode 5 when she asked Jamie if he wanted to sleep in her room after she found him sleeping outside of it. Jamie asked her “What about your reputation?” Her response was “I’ve already slept under the stars with you and 10 other men.” I loved this response. I thought that it was very progressive.

One complaint that I have about the show is that a lot of the male characters define Claire only by her beauty instead of by her intelligence and talent as a nurse. Although it doesn’t surprise me it still manages to annoy me. One thing that surprised me was that the writers made Jamie’s character a virgin instead of Claire. Considering the time period it’s all about a woman’s purity, so the fact that Jamie was a virgin was a switch of gender stereotypes. Jamie is a part of the Mackenzie clan and Claire ends up nursing him back to health a few times. As the show goes on, their relationship develops. I love the development of their relationship. Although the creator of the show, Ronald D. Moore, said in an interview that episode 7 is when we see Claire and Jamie fall in love with each other; I noticed the signs earlier on. It may seem fast to a lot of people, but it didn’t to me because I had seen the signs earlier, so when episode 7 came on I was fine and happy about it.

Outlander isn’t a perfect show, but I thoroughly enjoy it. There were a couple of scenes that disturbed me so I’m warning you now. The first part of season one is available in our catalog. The second part of season one started on Saturday, April 4^th on Starz.

Kayla

Courtesy of Wikipedia